Spicebird 0.4: Thunderbird Alternative with RSS, Chat and Portal

Indian software developer Synovel released the latest 0.4 version of its groupware client, Spicebird, just a few days ago.

Spicebird is based on the Open Source mailer Mozilla Thunderbird, but adds much functionality to the basic product. Users who deploy Thunderbird with the Sunbird calendar plugin, will find that Spicebird is an interesting alternative that comes with its own RSS newsreader and an instant messaging module, and presents its features on a clear-cut and configurable portal page.

However, the software fails to provide some of the typical features that users expect of a groupware client: just like with Sunbird, Spicebird can only use local, Caldav server and ICS files on the network as data sources for calendars, and it still lacks connectors to groupware servers. According to the vendor's roadmap, the open source tool will have an Exchange connector by version 1.0. Just like most programs from the Mozilla family, Spicebird is also available for Windows and Linux.

The Mozilla Foundation caused a stir last fall when it announced that the Thunderbird mailer would be outsourced from Mozilla Corporation (as Linux Magazine reported). Many developers threatened to ditch the project – and it looks like some of them have landed at Spicebird.

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The Mozilla Foundation has released version 0.7 of its Sunbird calendaring program. Now calendars are available with public holidays for 17 countries. In addition to this, the developers have remove various bugs and improved usability.